so ive been licensed for about 8 months now, got my technician last spring and just upgraded to general a couple months ago. been mostly doing local repeater stuff and a little HF but honestly i want to do something more meaningful with the hobby if that makes sense.

a buddy at my club mentioned ARES and said theres a local group that meets monthly and does training exercises. i looked up some stuff online but its hard to tell what actually happens at these meetings vs what the official org websites say happens, you know? like the ARRL page makes it sound really formal and structured but my buddy says its pretty relaxed.

i guess my main question is, if i show up to my first ARES meeting, what should i bring and what are they actually going to ask me to do? do they care that im pretty new? im comfortable on the radio but i definitely dont have years of net control experience or anything like that. also wondering if you need to have specific gear to participate in activations or if you kind of figure that out as you go.

honestly just show up, thats the biggest thing. every ARES group runs a bit differently depending on who the EC is and what the county needs, so your experience might be totally different from what someone in another state describes. ours is pretty laid back, we do a simplex net check, maybe work through an ICS scenario or practice sending Winlink messages, and then people hang around and chat. nobody expects you to walk in as an expert.

bring your HT obviously, and if you have a portable antenna or a way to run off battery that helps, but its not required day one. the main thing they want to know is that youre reliable and willing to show up when it matters. ive seen plenty of guys with fancy go-kits who never show up for an actual activation, and newer folks who show up every single time rain or shine. guess who the EC calls first. just be the person who shows up and youll do fine.

welcome to the rabbit hole lol. i joined ARES about two years into the hobby and was pretty nervous about it too. the ICS stuff (like ICS-100 and 700) threw me a bit at first because it feels really bureaucratic but you get used to it and it actually makes sense once you see how an activation runs. some groups require you to complete those online FEMA courses before you can deploy, so worth checking with your EC ahead of time if thats a requirement locally.

the training exercises are honestly the best part, weve done simulated hospital communication drills and one big county-wide exercise where we supported the EOC. that was a lot of fun even though it was basically just passing traffic and filling out ICS forms for 4 hours. sounds boring written out but in the moment it feels pretty real. anyway definitely go to the meeting, worst case you decide its not for you.